Even before my sweet baby boy Owen was born, I knew how I wanted to design his room. You see, I’ve always been a fan of bold pops of black and white. I’d say it was my guilty pleasure, except it’s so wonderful, there’ nothing to feel guilty about. It’s clean and classic, but never goes out of style. Plus, because it’s gender neutral, I knew it would be perfect whether we had a girl or a boy.

And so Owen’s room has a beautiful black-and-white theme with mixing-and-matching patterns, with a single pop of yellow to add a bit of quirkiness, which fits really spectacularly with the modern, clean-lined furniture. Some prefer colored walls for their new bundle of joy, but I chose to keep the walls white. It has a maturing feel; one that is perfect for him as a newborn but can grow with him as he gets older, and his baby room becomes a big boy room.

Also the bare walls really make the colors of his new toys and books pop! So much fun!

As he enters the world of discovering the joys of patterns, Owen loves looking at the black raindrop decals and homemade hot air balloon mobile that hangs above and beside his crib. It creates lots of those baby smiles that melt my heart all day long! The hot air balloon is a self-made custom version of an art project I teach in my classes. The kids love it, and so do I.

One thing I’ve come to realize – I never knew how much time I would spend on the floor before becoming a new mommy. Owen and I play on the floor a lot and do tummy time on the black and white striped rug and black and grey FLOR carpet tiles. They not only add to the color theme, but provide a soft place for us to play.

The artwork in Owen’s room is special because it’s all original pieces by me, his mommy! That includes the paintings and the hot air balloon mobile. Starting in college, I focused my art to be ideal for children. This is where I began my themed watercolor illustrations of animal family-themes. Each piece has a family of animals doing an act of bonding whether it be peacocks learning how to ride a bike or sea monkeys learning how to scuba dive.

The painting above the changing table was a gift to my hubby before we got pregnant of what I envisioned our home would look like when we had a family. The colors are gentle, and the theme really adds great warmth and a sense of family to the room.

Creating children’s art has always been my creative outlet. It was so fun to design and even more satisfying seeing it all displayed in my son’s space. It tells a story. I want my son to discover his creativity and find himself. I wanted to create this space, where he use his imagination and dream big.

This gives me an opportunity to not only lay a good foundation of color and pattern discovery, but also pass the torch, so that what inspired mommy may also inspire Owen.

Thank you, Michelle~ for sharing your story and inspiring us and for all the maternity guidance along the way…stay tuned for a peak at our family news this Friday!